Management device, management method, and recording medium for synchronizing information from management devices

ABSTRACT

A first acquisition unit acquires an event notification from an MFP and updates first device-status information. A transmission unit transmits the event notification and first reference-destination information. A switching unit switches a first access to the first reference-destination information to a second access to second reference-destination information. A second acquisition unit issues an acquisition request at a first interval, issues an acquisition request at a second interval in response to the event notification, acquires the second device-status information, and update the first device-status information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to and incorporates by referencethe entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-238726 filedin Japan on Sep. 17, 2008.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a management device, a managementmethod, and a recording medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

There has been known a device remote management system as disclosed in,for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-15799. Thedevice remote management system performs maintenance management of acopying device that runs on a network (e.g., local area network (LAN))inside a client site by using a central management device installed in aservice center or the like of a manufacturer of the copying device.

In the device remote management system, generally, the centralmanagement device performs various managements such as maintenancemanagement, troubleshooting management, and management for consumablesupplies. Specifically, the managements are implemented by collectingvarious pieces of information such as maintenance information,operational status, and information as to whether any failure occurs inthe copying device through a communication device connected to thenetwork such as LAN, and analyzing the collected information.

There is also a device management system in which not the centralmanagement device installed in the service center of the manufacturerbut a user itself performs maintenance management of a copying device byusing a management device connected to a network inside the client site.

However, if an electronic device such as a copying device is managed byusing both the management device installed in the service center of themanufacturer and the management device installed in the client siterather than by using either one of them, improvement of maintenance canbe expected.

In this case, to prevent the electronic device as an object to bemanaged from being doubly-processed or occurrence of trouble due todifference between device statuses of the electronic device, it isnecessary to synchronize between pieces of information such as thedevice statuses managed by both the management devices. However, it isnot possible to always synchronize the both management devices in termsof prevention of an increase in the amount of network communication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to at least partially solve theproblems in the conventional technology.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided amanagement device that is configured to be connected to an electronicdevice and a first terminal through a first network and connected to aremote management device through a second network, a third network, andthe first network. The remote management device is connected to a secondterminal through the second network. The management device includes: astorage unit that stores therein management item information indicatinga management item of the electronic device, first device-statusinformation indicating a device status managed by the management deviceusing the management item, management destination information indicatinga management destination of the management item, firstreference-destination information indicating a reference destination ofthe first device-status information, and second reference-destinationinformation indicating a reference destination of second device-statusinformation indicating a device status managed by the remote managementdevice using the management item, all of which are associated with eachother; a first acquisition unit that acquires an event notification ofoccurrence of an event that changes the device status managed by themanagement item from the electronic device, and updates the firstdevice-status information; a transmission unit that transmits the eventnotification and the first reference-destination information to thefirst terminal and also transmits the event notification to the remotemanagement device when the management destination information indicatesthe management device and the remote management device as managementdestinations; a switching unit that switches an access to the firstreference-destination information to an access to the secondreference-destination information upon accepting the access from thefirst terminal to the first reference-destination information beforereference-inhibition instruction information indicating an instructionto inhibit reference to the first device-status information is acquiredfrom the remote management device; and a second acquisition unit thatissues an acquisition request to the remote management device at a firstinterval, issues an acquisition request to the remote management deviceat a second interval shorter than the first interval in response to thetransmission from the transmission unit to the first terminal and theremote management device, acquires the reference-inhibition instructioninformation when the remote management device accepts the access fromthe second terminal to the second reference-destination information, andacquires the second device-status information updated in response toreception of recovery instruction information when the remote managementdevice receives the recovery instruction information for recovering adevice status from the first terminal, to thereby update the firstdevice-status information.

Furthermore, according to another aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a management method implemented by a management system. Themanagement system includes a management device connected to anelectronic device and a first terminal through a first network and aremote management device connected to a second terminal through a secondnetwork and also connected to the first network through the secondnetwork and a third network. The management device includes a storageunit that stores therein management item information indicating amanagement item of the electronic device, first device-statusinformation indicating a device status managed by the management deviceusing the management item, management destination information indicatinga management destination of the management item, firstreference-destination information indicating a reference destination ofthe first device-status information, and second reference-destinationinformation indicating a reference destination of second device-statusinformation for a device status managed by the remote management deviceusing the management item, all of which are associated with each other.The management method includes: acquiring an event notification ofoccurrence of an event that changes the device status managed by themanagement item from the electronic device, and updating the firstdevice-status information; transmitting the event notification and thefirst reference-destination information to the first terminal and alsotransmitting the event notification to the remote management device whenthe management destination information indicates the management deviceand the remote management device as management destinations; switchingan access to the first reference-destination information to an access tothe second reference-destination information when the access from thefirst terminal to the first reference-destination information isaccepted before reference-inhibition instruction information indicatingan instruction to inhibit reference to the first device-statusinformation is acquired from the remote management device; and issuingan acquisition request to the remote management device at a firstinterval, issuing an acquisition request to the remote management deviceat a second interval shorter than the first interval in response to thetransmission from the transmission unit to the first terminal and theremote management device, acquiring the reference-inhibition instructioninformation, acquiring the second device-status information, and therebyupdating the first device-status information. The remote managementdevice includes a storage unit that stores therein management iteminformation indicating a management item of the electronic device, thesecond device-status information, and the second reference-destinationinformation, which are associated with each other. The management methodfurther includes: receiving the event notification from the managementdevice and updating the second device-status information; transmittingthe event notification and the second reference-destination informationto the second terminal; transmitting a device status indicated by thesecond device-status information to the first terminal in response tobeing switched to the access to the second reference-destinationinformation by the management device; receiving recovery instructioninformation for recovering the device status from the first terminal andupdating the second device-status information; and transmitting thesecond device-status information to the management device according tothe acquisition request received therefrom, and also transmitting thereference-inhibition instruction information to the management devicewhen an access from the second terminal to the secondreference-destination information is accepted.

Moreover, according to still another aspect of the present invention,there is provided a computer-readable recording medium that storestherein a management program causing a computer to execute a managementmethod implemented by a management device that is connected to anelectronic device and to a first terminal through a first network and isconnected to a remote management device through a second network, athird network, and the first network, the remote management device beingconnected to a second terminal through the second network. Themanagement device includes a storage unit that stores therein managementitem information indicating a management item of the electronic device,first device-status information indicating a device status managed bythe management device using the management item, management destinationinformation indicating a management destination of the management item,first reference-destination information indicating a referencedestination of the first device-status information, and secondreference-destination information indicating a reference destination ofsecond device-status information for a device status managed by theremote management device using the management item, all of which areassociated with each other. The management method includes: acquiring anevent notification of occurrence of an event that changes the devicestatus managed by the management item from the electronic device, andupdating the first device-status information; transmitting the eventnotification and the first reference-destination information to thefirst terminal and also transmitting the event notification to theremote management device when the management destination informationindicates the management device and the remote management device asmanagement destinations; switching an access to the firstreference-destination information to an access to the secondreference-destination information when the access from the firstterminal to the first reference-destination information is acceptedbefore reference-inhibition instruction information indicating aninstruction to inhibit reference to the first device-status informationis acquired from the remote management device; and issuing anacquisition request to the remote management device at a first interval,issuing an acquisition request to the remote management device at asecond interval shorter than the first interval in response to thetransmission from the transmission unit to the first terminal and theremote management device, acquiring the reference-inhibition instructioninformation when the remote management device accepts the access fromthe second terminal to the second reference-destination information, andacquiring the second device-status information updated in response toreception of recovery instruction information when the remote managementdevice receives the recovery instruction information for recovering thedevice status from the first terminal, to thereby update the firstdevice-status information.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical andindustrial significance of this invention will be better understood byreading the following detailed description of presently preferredembodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a configuration example of a managementsystem according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example of information stored in a storageunit of a management device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of an event notificationby electronic mail;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example of a device-status reference screen;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example a device-type billing-counter checkscreen according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram of an example of a process flow in themanagement system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example of a management-destination changescreen according to the embodiment; and

FIG. 8 is a diagram of another example of the management-destinationchange screen according to the embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of a management system, a management device, amanagement method, a management program, and a recording mediumaccording to the present invention are explained in detail below withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a configuration example of a managementsystem 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Themanagement system 1 includes a management device 10 and a remotemanagement device 20. More specifically, the management device 10 isconnected, through a first network 90, to a first terminal 30 andelectronic devices such as a multifunction product (MFP) 50, a copyingmachine 60, and a personal computer (PC) 80 directly connected with aprinting machine 70. The remote management device 20 is connected to asecond terminal 40 through a second network 94, and is also connected tothe first network 90 through the second network 94 and a third network92.

The first network 90 and the second network 94 can be implemented by,for example, a local area network (LAN), and the third network 92 can beimplemented by, for example, the Internet.

The management system 1 will be explained below using an example ofmanaging the MFP 50 that stores a plurality of functions such as ascanner, a copier, a facsimile, and a printer in one housing. However,the present invention is not limited thereto, and thus, it can be alsoapplied to the copying machine 60 and the printing machine 70 or thelike.

The management device 10 is connected to the first network 90, whichmeans the management device 10 is installed in the client site, andmanages the electronic devices such as the MFP 50, the copying machine60, and the printing machine 70. The management device 10 includes astorage unit 110, a first acquisition unit 120, a transmission unit 130,a switching unit 140, a second acquisition unit 150, a referenceinhibition unit 160, and a changing unit 170.

The storage unit 110 stores therein management item informationindicating management items of the MFP 50, first device-statusinformation indicating a device status managed by the management device10 using any one of management items, management destination informationindicating a management destination of the management item, firstreference-destination information indicating a reference destination ofthe first device-status information, and second reference-destinationinformation indicating a reference destination of second device-statusinformation indicating a device status managed by the remote managementdevice 20 using the management item, all of which are associated witheach other.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example of information stored in the storageunit 110. In this example, the first device-status information includesattached-device information used for management of the device status.The storage unit 110 also stores therein type information indicating atype of the attached-device information and a method for acquiringattached-device information of the type indicated by the typeinformation associated with each other, in addition to the managementitem information, the first device-status information, the managementdestination information, the first reference-destination information,and the second reference-destination information.

The management destination information indicates at least one of themanagement device 10 and the remote management device 20, the firstreference-destination information is a uniform resource locator (URL)indicating the management device 10, and the secondreference-destination information is a URL indicating the remotemanagement device 20.

The first acquisition unit 120 acquires an event notification ofoccurrence of an event that changes the device status managed by themanagement item from the MFP 50, and updates the first device-statusinformation. For example, the first acquisition unit 120 acquires anevent notification of occurrence of “toner near-end” indicating that theMFP 50 is running low on toner, from the MFP 50.

The first acquisition unit 120 also acquires the attached-deviceinformation of the type indicated by the type information, from the MFP50 upon accepting an access from the first terminal 30 to the firstreference-destination information before reference-inhibitioninstruction information is acquired from the remote management device20. For example, when the type information indicates one of the billingcounters, the first acquisition unit 120 acquires the billing counterbeing attached-device information using a method associated with thetype information.

It should be noted that the first acquisition unit 120 acquires theevent notification and the attached-device information from the MFP 50using a protocol according to the management item. For example, thefirst acquisition unit 120 acquires the event notification indicatingthe toner near-end using a simple network management protocol (SNMP),and acquires the billing counter using hypertext transfer protocolsecurity (HTTPS) and a simple object access protocol (SOAP). Asexplained above, in the embodiment, the first acquisition unit 120acquires the management information such as device status using only arequired protocol according to the management item.

When the management destination information indicates the managementdevice 10 and the remote management device 20 as managementdestinations, the transmission unit 130 transmits the event notificationand the first reference-destination information to the first terminal 30and also transmits the event notification to the remote managementdevice 20.

For example, the transmission unit 130 transmits the event notificationand the first reference-destination information to the first terminal 30by using the electronic mail as shown in FIG. 3. The transmission unit130 also transmits the event notification to the remote managementdevice 20 by using the protocol such as HTTPS.

The transmission unit 130 also transmits the attached-device informationacquired by the first acquisition unit 120 to the remote managementdevice 20.

The switching unit 140 switches an access to the firstreference-destination information to an access to the secondreference-destination information upon accepting the access from thefirst terminal 30 to the first reference-destination information beforethe second acquisition unit 150, as explained later, acquires thereference-inhibition instruction information indicating an instructionto inhibit reference to the first device-status information, from theremote management device 20. If the second terminal 40 accesses thesecond reference-destination information, the second acquisition unit150 acquires the reference-inhibition instruction information from theremote management device 20.

The second acquisition unit 150 issues an acquisition request to theremote management device 20 at a first interval (for example, atone-hour interval), and issues an acquisition request to the remotemanagement device 20 at a second interval (for example, at one-secondinterval) shorter than the first interval in response to thetransmission from the transmission unit 130 to the first terminal 30 andthe remote management device 20. The second acquisition unit 150 therebyacquires the reference-inhibition instruction information, and alsoacquires the second device-status information to update the firstdevice-status information. For example, the second acquisition unit 150issues the acquisition request to the remote management device 20through polling.

The reference inhibition unit 160 inhibits the first terminal 30 torefer to the first device-status information, or inhibits the firstterminal 30 to access the first reference-destination information whenthe second acquisition unit 150 acquires the reference-inhibitioninstruction information indicating an instruction to inhibit referenceto the first device-status information, from the remote managementdevice 20 before the reference inhibition unit 160 accepts the accessfrom the first terminal 30 to the first reference-destinationinformation.

Thus, when a recovery process of the device status is already performedby the second terminal 40, the recovery process of the device status tobe performed by the first terminal 30 can be prevented from being doublyperformed. In this case, a screen indicating that the second terminal 40is performing the recovery process may be displayed on a display (notshown) of the first terminal 30.

The changing unit 170 changes at least one of the management destinationindicated by the management destination information, the referencedestination indicated by the second reference-destination information,and the type indicated by the type information, according to the requestfrom the first terminal 30 or from the remote management device 20.

The changing unit 170 also changes access right to each device inassociation with change in at least any one of the managementdestination indicated by the management destination information, thereference destination indicated by the second reference-destinationinformation, and the type indicated by the type information.

Thus, it is possible to prevent occurrence of any event such that thefirst terminal 30 cannot access the remote management device 20 or thesecond terminal 40 cannot access the management device 10 when themanagement destination indicated by the management destinationinformation is changed.

The remote management device 20 is connected to the second network 94 oris installed in a service center of an electronic device manufacturer orof a service provider, and manages electronic devices such as the MFP50, the copying machine 60, and the printing machine 70 through themanagement device 10. The remote management device 20 includes a storageunit 210, a reception unit 220, a transmission unit 230, a referenceinhibition unit 240, and a change request unit 250.

The storage unit 210 stores therein the management item information, thesecond device-status information, and the second reference-destinationinformation in association with each other. In the embodiment, thesecond device-status information includes attached-device informationused to manage the device statuses.

The reception unit 220 receives information from the management device10, the first terminal 30, and the second terminal 40 or the like. Thereception unit 220 includes a first receiver 222, a second receiver 224,and a third receiver 226.

The first receiver 222 receives the event notification from themanagement device 10 and updates the second device-status information,and also receives the attached-device information from the managementdevice 10 and updates the second device-status information.

The second receiver 224 receives recovery instruction information forrecovering the device status, from the first terminal 30 and updates thesecond device-status information. For example, the first terminal 30performs a toner ordering process or the like in a second device-statusreference screen as shown in FIG. 4, and the second receiver 224receives toner ordering information (an example of the recoveryinstruction information) from the first terminal 30.

The third receiver 226 accepts an access from the second terminal 40 tothe second reference-destination information.

The transmission unit 230 transmits the information to the managementdevice 10, the first terminal 30, and the second terminal 40 or thelike. The transmission unit 230 includes a first transmitter 232, asecond transmitter 234, and a third transmitter 236.

The first transmitter 232 transmits the event notification and thesecond reference-destination information to the second terminal 40. Forexample, the first transmitter 232 transmits the event notification andthe second reference-destination information to the second terminal 40by using electronic mail.

The second transmitter 234 transmits the device status indicated by thesecond device-status information to the first terminal 30 in response tobeing switched to the access to the second reference-destinationinformation by the management device 10, and causes the first terminal30 to display the second device-status reference screen as shown in FIG.4.

The second transmitter 234 also transmits the attached-deviceinformation such as billing counters included in the seconddevice-status information to the first terminal 30. Therefore, thesecond transmitter 234 can cause the first terminal 30 to display abilling-counter check screen as shown in FIG. 5.

The third transmitter 236 transmits the second device-status informationto the management device 10 according to the acquisition requestreceived therefrom, and also transmits the reference-inhibitioninstruction information to the management device 10 when the thirdreceiver 226 accepts an access from the second terminal 40 to the secondreference-destination information.

The reference inhibition unit 240 inhibits the second terminal 40 torefer to the second device-status information or inhibits the secondterminal 40 to access the second reference-destination information inresponse to being switched to the access to the secondreference-destination information by the switching unit 140 of themanagement device 10.

Thus, when the first terminal 30 is already performing the recoveryprocess for the device status, it is possible to prevent the secondterminal 40 from doubly performing the recovery process for the devicestatus. In this case, the screen indicating that the first terminal 30is performing the recovery process may be displayed on the display (notshown) of the second terminal 40.

The change request unit 250 requests the management device 10 to changeat least one of the management destination indicated by the managementdestination information, the reference destination indicated by thesecond reference-destination information, and the type indicated by thetype information.

The first terminal 30 is a terminal for manager connected to the firstnetwork 90 or installed in the client site, and issues an instruction torecovery of the device status and a request for change of the managementdestination to the management device 10 or to the remote managementdevice 20.

The second terminal 40 is a terminal for manager connected to the secondnetwork 94 or installed in the service center of an electronic devicemanufacturer or of a service provider or the like, and issues aninstruction to recovery of the device status and a request for change ofthe management destination to the management device 10 or to the remotemanagement device 20.

In the management system according to the embodiment, to implementremote management by the remote management device 20, each device has afunction of transmitting and receiving a request for a process to amethod of mutually implemented application and a response to the requestthrough remote procedure call (RPC). A protocol such as SOAP, HTTP, andFTP can be used to implement RPC.

Further, in the management system according to the embodiment, therequest from the remote management device 20 to the management device 10is transmitted through an HTTP response after the acquisition request isperformed by the management device 10 to the remote management device 20using polling.

Next, an operation of the management system according to the embodimentis explained below with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a sequencediagram of an example of a process flow in the management system 1 whenthe toner near-end occurs in the MFP 50 (an example of an event to causethe device status to be changed).

First, the first acquisition unit 120 of the management device 10acquires an event notification indicating that the toner near-end hasoccurred from the MFP 50 (Step S10). Then, the first acquisition unit120 reads the first device-status information associated with themanagement item information indicating “no toner” (see FIG. 2) from thestorage unit 110, and updates the device status indicated by the readfirst device-status information to “toner near-end” (Step S12).

Subsequently, the second acquisition unit 150 of the management device10 reads the management destination information associated with themanagement item information indicating “no toner” from the storage unit110. When the read management destination information indicates themanagement device 10 and the remote management device 20 as managementdestinations, the second acquisition unit 150 issues the acquisitionrequest to the remote management device 20 through the polling at aninterval shorter than the previous interval. More specifically, theacquisition request is performed by shortening from the one-hourinterval (one example of the first interval) at which the polling isperformed until then (Step S14) to the one-second interval (one exampleof the second interval).

Then, the transmission unit 130 of the management device 10 transmitsthe event notification acquired by the first acquisition unit 120 to theremote management device 20 (Step S16). The transmission unit 130 readsthe first reference-destination information associated with themanagement item information indicating “no toner” from the storage unit110, and transmits the read first reference-destination information andthe event notification to the first terminal 30 by using the electronicmail as shown in FIG. 3 (Step S22).

Next, the first receiver 222 of the remote management device 20 receivesthe event notification from the management device 10, reads the seconddevice-status information associated with the management iteminformation indicating “no toner” from the storage unit 210, and updatesthe device status indicated by the read second device-status informationto “toner near-end” (Step S18).

Subsequently, the first transmitter 232 of the remote management device20 reads the second reference-destination information associated withthe management item information indicating “no toner” from the storageunit 210, and transmits the read second reference-destinationinformation and the event notification to the second terminal 40 (StepS20).

Then, when the first terminal 30 accesses the firstreference-destination information before the second acquisition unit 150of the management device 10 acquires the reference-inhibitioninstruction information indicating an instruction to inhibit referenceto the first device-status information from the remote management device20 (Step S24), the first acquisition unit 120 of the management device10 reads the type information and the method associated with themanagement item information indicating “no toner” from the storage unit110. The first acquisition unit 120 acquires a billing counter indicatedby the read type information being attached-device information for “notoner”, from the MFP 50 by using the read method (Steps S26, S28).

When the second terminal 40 accesses the second reference-destinationinformation, the second acquisition unit 150 acquires thereference-inhibition instruction information from the remote managementdevice 20.

The switching unit 140 of the management device 10 reads the secondreference-destination information associated with the management iteminformation indicating “no toner” from the storage unit 110, andswitches the access to the first reference-destination information bythe first terminal 30 to the access to the read secondreference-destination information. The transmission unit 130 of themanagement device 10 transmits the billing counter acquired by the firstacquisition unit 120 to the remote management device 20 (Step S30).

The first receiver 222 of the remote management device 20 receives thebilling counter from the management device 10. The first receiver 222reads the attached-device information of the second device-statusinformation associated with the management item information indicating“no toner” from the storage unit 210, and updates the informationindicated by the read attached-device information with the receivedbilling counter.

Subsequently, the reference inhibition unit 240 of the remote managementdevice 20 inhibits the second terminal 40 to refer to the seconddevice-status information associated with the management iteminformation indicating “no toner” or inhibits the second terminal 40 toaccess the second reference-destination information (Step S32).

The second transmitter 234 of the remote management device 20 transmitsthe second device-status information associated with the management iteminformation indicating “no toner” to the first terminal 30 in responseto being switched to the access to the second reference-destinationinformation by the management device 10 (Step S34), and causes the firstterminal 30 to display the second device-status reference screen asshown in FIG. 4 (Step S36).

The first terminal 30 performs the toner ordering process in the seconddevice-status reference screen, and the second receiver 224 of theremote management device 20 receives the toner ordering information (oneexample of recovery instruction information) (Step S38). The secondreceiver 224 reads the second device-status information associated withthe management item information indicating “no toner” from the storageunit 210, and updates the device status indicated by the read seconddevice-status information to “waiting for toner ordering” (Step S40).

The second acquisition unit 150 of the management device 10 issues theacquisition request through the polling at the one-second interval (StepS42), and acquires the second device-status information associated withthe management item information indicating “no toner” from the thirdtransmitter 236 of the remote management device 20 (Step S44). Thesecond acquisition unit 150 reads the first device-status informationassociated with the management item information indicating “no toner”from the storage unit 110, and updates the device status indicated bythe read first device-status information to “waiting for toner ordering”(Step S46).

The management device 10 reads the first device-status informationassociated with the management item information indicating “no toner”from the storage unit 110, and transmits the read first device-statusinformation to the MFP 50 (Step S48).

When receiving the first device-status information from the managementdevice 10, the MFP 50 updates the device-status information of the MFP50 to “toner on order” (Step S50), and transmits the updateddevice-status information to the management device 10 (Step S52).

When receiving the updated device-status information from the MFP 50,the management device 10 reads the first device-status informationassociated with the management item information indicating “no toner”from the storage unit 110, and updates the device status indicated bythe read first device-status information to “toner on order” (Step S54),and transmits the updated first device-status information to the remotemanagement device 20 (Step S56).

When receiving the updated first device-status information from themanagement device 10, the remote management device 20 reads the seconddevice-status information associated with the management iteminformation indicating “no toner” from the storage unit 210, and updatesthe device status indicated by the read second device-status informationto “toner on order” (Step S58)

The reference inhibition unit 240 of the remote management device 20remove the inhibition of an access to the second reference-destinationinformation performed by the second terminal 40 (Step S60).

It should be noted that the changing unit 170 of the management device10 can change the management destination indicated by the managementdestination information by using, for example, management-destinationchange screens as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 displayed in the first terminal30.

For example, an electronic device of which management destination is tobe changed is selected in the management-destination change screen shownin FIG. 7, and a management item of which management destination is tobe changed and a management destination are selected in themanagement-destination change screen shown in FIG. 8. Then, amanagement-destination change request is transmitted from the firstterminal 30 to the management device 10. The changing unit 170 of themanagement device 10 changes the management destination informationstored in the storage unit 110 according to the management-destinationchange request.

As explained above, in the management system according to theembodiment, when the management destination information indicates themanagement device 10 and the remote management device 20 as managementdestinations, an interval of polling to the remote management device 20is shortened, and a latest device status of the MFP 50 is stored in thestorage unit 210 of the remote management device 20.

Thus, the management device 10 can acquire the latest device status ofthe MFP 50 from the remote management device 20 at shortened pollinginterval, so that it is possible to prevent occurrence of a time lagbetween the device status of the MFP 50 managed by the management device10 and the device status of the MFP 50 managed by the remote managementdevice 20.

In the embodiment, the polling interval is shortened only when the eventof changing the device status of the MFP 50 occurs, and thus the devicestatuses of the MFP 50 managed by the management device 10 and by theremote management device 20 can be synchronized with each other withoutcausing the amount of network communication to increase more thannecessary.

Each of the management device 10, the remote management device 20, thefirst terminal 30, and the second terminal 40 according to theembodiment includes a control unit such as a central processing unit(CPU), a storage unit such as a read only memory (ROM) and a randomaccess memory (RAM), an external storage unit such as a hard disk drive(HDD) and a compact disk (CD) drive, and an input-output device, whichis a hardware configuration using an ordinary computer.

A management program executed by the management device 10 according tothe embodiment is provided by being recorded in a computer-readablerecording medium such as a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), aflexible disk (FD), a compact disk recordable (CD-R), and a digitalversatile disk (DVD) in a file with installable format or withexecutable format.

The management program executed by the management device 10 according tothe embodiment may also be provided by being stored on the computerconnected to the network such as the Internet and being downloadedthrough the network. The management program executed by the managementdevice 10 may be provided or distributed through the network such as theInternet. Further, the management program according to the embodimentmay be provided by being previously incorporated in the ROM or the like.

In addition, the management program executed by the management device 10according to the embodiment is formed with modules including the unitssuch as the first acquisition unit, the transmission unit, the switchingunit, the second acquisition unit, the reference inhibition unit, andthe changing unit. Therefore, as actual hardware, the CPU (processor)reads the management program from the recording medium and executes theread management program, and the units are thereby loaded on a mainstorage unit, to generate the first acquisition unit, the transmissionunit, the switching unit, the second acquisition unit, the referenceinhibition unit, and the changing unit on the main storage unit.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the device statusesmanaged by the both management devices can be synchronized with eachother without an increase in the amount of network communication morethan necessary.

Although the invention has been described with respect to specificembodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims arenot to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying allmodifications and alternative constructions that may occur to oneskilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein setforth.

1. A management device configured to be connected to an electronicdevice and a first terminal through traversing a first network, themanagement device configured to be connected to a remote managementdevice, the remote management device connected to a second network andthe management device connected to the remote management device bytraversing the first network and a third network to access the secondnetwork, the remote management device being connected to a secondterminal through the second network, the management device comprising: astorage unit configured to store therein management item informationindicating a management item of the electronic device, firstdevice-status information indicating a device status managed by themanagement device using the management item, management destinationinformation indicating a management destination of the management item,first reference-destination information indicating a referencedestination of the first device-status information, and secondreference-destination information indicating a reference destination ofsecond device-status information indicating a device status managed bythe remote management device using the management item, all of which areassociated with each other; a first acquisition unit configured toacquire an event notification of occurrence of an event that changes thedevice status managed by the management item from the electronic device,and updates the first device-status information; a transmission unitconfigured to transmit the event notification and the firstreference-destination information to the first terminal and alsotransmits the event notification to the remote management device whenthe management destination information indicates the management deviceand the remote management device as management destinations; a switchingunit configured to switch an access to the first reference-destinationinformation to an access to the second reference-destination informationupon accepting the access from the first terminal to the firstreference-destination information before reference-inhibitioninstruction information indicating an instruction to inhibit referenceto the first device-status information is acquired from the remotemanagement device; and a second acquisition unit configured to issue anacquisition request to the remote management device at a first interval,issues an acquisition request to the remote management device at asecond interval shorter than the first interval in response to thetransmission from the transmission unit to the first terminal and theremote management device, acquires the reference-inhibition instructioninformation when the remote management device accepts the access fromthe second terminal to the second reference-destination information, andacquires the second device-status information updated in response toreception of recovery instruction information when the remote managementdevice receives the recovery instruction information for recovering adevice status from the first terminal, to thereby update the firstdevice-status information.
 2. The management device according to claim1, wherein the first device-status information and the seconddevice-status information include attached-device information used tomanage device statuses, the storage unit is further configured to storetherein type information indicating types of the attached-deviceinformation associated with each other, the first acquisition unit isconfigured to acquire the attached-device information of a typeindicated by the type information from the electronic device uponaccepting the access from the first terminal to the firstreference-destination information before the reference-inhibitioninstruction information is acquired from the remote management device,the transmission unit is configured to transmit acquired attached-deviceinformation to the remote management device, and a first receiver of theremote management device is configured to receive the attached-deviceinformation from the management device and updates the seconddevice-status information.
 3. The management device according to claim2, wherein the first acquisition unit is configured to acquire the eventnotification and the attached-device information from the electronicdevice using a protocol according to the management item.
 4. Themanagement device according to claim 1, wherein the second acquisitionunit is configured to issue an acquisition request to the remotemanagement device through polling.
 5. The management device according toclaim 1, further comprising a changing unit configured to change atleast one of a management destination indicated by the managementdestination information, a reference destination indicated by the secondreference-destination information, and a type indicated by the typeinformation, according to a request from the first terminal or from theremote management device.
 6. The management device according to claim 5,wherein the changing unit is configured to change access right inassociation with the change of at least one of the managementdestination indicated by the management destination information, thereference destination indicated by the second reference-destinationinformation, and the type indicated by the type information.
 7. Themanagement device according to claim 1, wherein the firstreference-destination information is a uniform resource locator (URL) ofthe management device, and the second reference-destination informationis a URL of the remote management device.
 8. A management methodimplemented by a management system, the management system including amanagement device connected to an electronic device and a first terminalthrough a first network; and a remote management device connected to asecond terminal through a second network and also connected to the firstnetwork through the second network and a third network, wherein themanagement device includes a storage unit configured to store thereinmanagement item information indicating a management item of theelectronic device, first device-status information indicating a devicestatus managed by the management device using the management item,management destination information indicating a management destinationof the management item, first reference-destination informationindicating a reference destination of the first device-statusinformation, and second reference-destination information indicating areference destination of second device-status information for a devicestatus managed by the remote management device using the managementitem, all of which are associated with each other, the management methodcomprises: acquiring an event notification of occurrence of an eventthat changes the device status managed by the management item from theelectronic device, and updating the first device-status information;transmitting the event notification and the first reference-destinationinformation to the first terminal and also transmitting the eventnotification to the remote management device when the managementdestination information indicates the management device and the remotemanagement device as management destinations; switching an access to thefirst reference-destination information to an access to the secondreference-destination information when the access from the firstterminal to the first reference-destination information is acceptedbefore reference-inhibition instruction information indicating aninstruction to inhibit reference to the first device-status informationis acquired from the remote management device; and issuing anacquisition request to the remote management device at a first interval,issuing an acquisition request to the remote management device at asecond interval shorter than the first interval in response to thetransmission from the transmission unit to the first terminal and theremote management device, acquiring the reference-inhibition instructioninformation, acquiring the second device-status information, and therebyupdating the first device-status information, the remote managementdevice includes a storage unit configured to store therein managementitem information indicating a management item of the electronic device,the second device-status information, and the secondreference-destination information, which are associated with each other,and the management method further comprises: receiving the eventnotification from the management device and updating the seconddevice-status information; transmitting the event notification and thesecond reference-destination information to the second terminal;transmitting a device status indicated by the second device-statusinformation to the first terminal in response to being switched to theaccess to the second reference-destination information by the managementdevice; receiving recovery instruction information for recovering thedevice status from the first terminal and updating the seconddevice-status information; and transmitting the second device-statusinformation to the management device according to the acquisitionrequest received therefrom, and also transmitting thereference-inhibition instruction information to the management devicewhen an access from the second terminal to the secondreference-destination information is accepted.
 9. A non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium configured to store therein amanagement program causing a computer to execute a management methodimplemented by a management device that is connected to an electronicdevice and to a first terminal through a first network and is connectedto a remote management device through a second network, a third network,and the first network, the remote management device being connected to asecond terminal through the second network, wherein the managementdevice includes a storage unit configured to store therein managementitem information indicating a management item of the electronic device,first device-status information indicating a device status managed bythe management device using the management item, management destinationinformation indicating a management destination of the management item,first reference-destination information indicating a referencedestination of the first device-status information, and secondreference-destination information indicating a reference destination ofsecond device-status information for a device status managed by theremote management device using the management item, all of which areassociated with each other, the management method comprises: acquiringan event notification of occurrence of an event that changes the devicestatus managed by the management item from the electronic device, andupdating the first device-status information; transmitting the eventnotification and the first reference-destination information to thefirst terminal and also transmitting the event notification to theremote management device when the management destination informationindicates the management device and the remote management device asmanagement destinations; switching an access to the firstreference-destination information to an access to the secondreference-destination information when the access from the firstterminal to the first reference-destination information is acceptedbefore reference-inhibition instruction information indicating aninstruction to inhibit reference to the first device-status informationis acquired from the remote management device; and issuing anacquisition request to the remote management device at a first interval,issuing an acquisition request to the remote management device at asecond interval shorter than the first interval in response to thetransmission from the transmission unit to the first terminal and theremote management device, acquiring the reference-inhibition instructioninformation when the remote management device accepts the access fromthe second terminal to the second reference-destination information, andacquiring the second device-status information updated in response toreception of recovery instruction information when the remote managementdevice receives the recovery instruction information for recovering thedevice status from the first terminal, to thereby update the firstdevice-status information.